Paps
siblings were Aunt Margaret (Bridges), Uncle Ernest, and Uncle Earl.
Uncle Earl did not get along well with Pap. He married Aunt
Pony whom he had met when he was buying mules in Kansas. They
had one son, little Ernest, who later went into business
in a clothing store and the movies. Mother remembers that he cut
out a wooden Santa Claus for her as a puppet when she was 10 to
11.

Uncle Ernest
sent Pap through college after Paps parents disowned him.
Paps parents were very conservative and narrow in their thinking.
Pap was kicked out of Depauw University for dancing with opera singers
at Grenada and then taking the dancers back to his fraternity house,
Tau Nu Epsilon. The whole fraternity was suspended then then invited
back to Depauw, but Pap refused. He finished up his studies at Indiana
University, graduating from there.

The Black
farm west of town was a showcase. Paps parents lived in an
old brick house on the west side of town. Originally Paps
parents lived in Russellville. They were living there when Pap went
away to military school, Western Military Academy, in Alton, Illinois.
The Durhams were farmers and not particularly religious. Grandma
Durham died four days after Aurie was born. She had long black hair,
and the kids were privileged to comb it.

Grandpa
Jake Durham was peddler who became quite well-to-do. He went on
horseback to Philadelphia where he bought needles and thread, bolts
of cloth, and other items, which he took back to Indiana to sell.
He was a huckster. Jacob Durham read the newspapers
and charged one penny for it. Some of Jakes money went into
founding the Russellville bank at the time of the Civil War, which
was the last privately owned bank in Indiana. Paps parents
owned a majority interest. It was sold in 1954.

Jacob (Jake)
Durham had at least two wives. Hannah Spears was the first. The
second, Rachel, was Paps grandmother. Jacobs body was
moved from a family cemetery in Russellville to Forest Hills Cemetery
(in Greencastle).

How Pap
met Munny: Munny attended a finished school in Washington, D.C.,
called the Ward Belmont school. Helen Edgington (later lived in
Milford, PA, with husband Cousin Frank Edgington and
sister Patty Biddis) was Munnys music teacher there. Munny
had her own piano.

Munnys
roommate, Elizabeth Schoaf, came from Veedersburg, Indiana. Elizabeth
married Fred Purnell of Attica, Indiana, who later became a Congressman.
Fred was a friend of Paps. They had attended law school together
at Indiana University. (Another view: Pap never went to law school.
See below.) Munny was a bridesmaid at the Purnell wedding, and pap
was an usher. Munny and Pap met at the wedding reception. (Uncle
Franks view: It was not at the wedding reception but at another
party around that time.) Pap carried Munnys trunk back to
the Schoaf house, and Munny was smitten.)

Pap and
Munny were engaged for three years. Grandpa (Frank P.) Sawyer would
not allow them to marry until Pap had accumulated $1,000. Aunt Margaret
(Bridges) was petrified that Munny might get pregnant. (She was
afraid of an illegitimate birth.)

It is unclear
whether Pap went to law school at Indiana University. (In those
days, you could read for the law without going to a
law school; and thats what Pap did.) Pap graduated from Indiana
University two years early. Paps mentor in the law was Court
Gillen of the law firm Corwin and Gillen. Pap didnt practice
law that much but instead went into politics. A woman remembered
him as a big wig in the Democratic Party, grateful that
Pap had let her stay at the post office after the Democrats won
Greencastle. Pap was in the Indiana assembly for a few terms than
then was elected to the state senate in 1928, the year that Mother
graduated from high school.

Paps
parents owned a majority interest in the Russellville bank. When
he was twelve years old, Pap had the job of guarding the money in
the bank with a gun until the bank acquired a safe. In later years,
if you walked into his room when Pap was asleep, he would throw
up his hands in surprise when he awoke. This reaction dated back
to his youthful days at the bank. Pap did not believe in insurance
but had an insurance agency.

Pap loved
to go out with the men and was popular with people in town. He played
a few bars of jazz: "Onward Christian Soldiers", etc.
Pap never went to church unless he was running for office.

As a sport,
Pap used to go frog hunting with cronies. Mother went with him once.
Sometimes he took people from New York City banks. They used carbon
lamps which would cause the frogs to freeze in position. Pap kept
the frogs in a tub in the basement. Once Frank was surprised by
the frogs when he went to the basement because it was cool. The
frogs were later eaten; only the legs were used. Hunting frogs with
carbon lamps is illegal today.

Rebuttal from Frank
Durham on July 19, 1994:

It (the above account) has a number of
errors as I understand the facts. For instance, I never heard that
Uncle Earl didnt get along well with Pap. He did have some
problems with his mother after he married Aunt Pony without his
mothers consent. But Pap has always been on good terms with
his brother Earl. And where did you get any information that Uncle
Ernest sent Pap through college? Never heard of that either. Pap
was not kicked out of DePauw. After the incident with the dancing
at the Opera House, Pap took all the blame and quickly changed schools
before the President, Bishop Hughes, could discipline him, or kick
him out.

Also from Frank Durham:

Munny and Pap met at a party, not at a
wedding reception. In 1950, Pap and daughter, Aura May (“Aunt Aurie”)
toured South America. Pap called Aurie “Sugarfoot” and
referred to her wearing curlers on that trip.

Some of Mother's
recollections:

Mother’s family seldom went to the
movies because they were too expensive. (However, the
Saturday afternoon showings were cheaper.) There was much
free entertainment
for children such as parades on the Fourth of July.
There were swimming contests in the Delaware River at Milford.
Vaudeville shows traveled through small towns in Indiana
including Russellville. They would rent space for a
week
or perhaps on a weekend, and then would move on. One
of the shows was held in a vacant lot next to the Russellville
Bank. In exchange for a certain number of free tickets,
the bank allowed the show to pitch a tent on this lot.
Mother received one of these tickets because her father,
Pap, was president of the bank.

12/28/96
Mother once attended a tent revival in Russellville, Indiana,
next to the Russellville
bank.
Uncle Ernest, Pap’s brother, was its President. Uncle
Ernest visited a girl in Texas each year but they never
married. Uncle Earl, another of Pap’s brother, had
a son named Ernest who made a wooden Santa Claus on a string
for Mother in shop class. Young Ernest and his mother,
Aunt Pony, moved to California. Ernest opened up a men’s
clothing shop in Sonora, California, and might have had
some children. Aunt Gret tried to visit him about 8 years
ago. Ernest has since died.

Aunt
Margaret (Pap’s sister)
was a beautiful woman who was invited to come out
as a debutante in Washington, D.C.,
but she was painfully shy and came back to Indiana.
She married Uncle Bridges when she was about 45. Uncle Bridges
was a
Hereford breeder and president of the breeders association.
He took
a particular shine to Aunt Gret. Uncle Bridges used
to
bring Get things in his lunch paid; once gave her two
pet skunks.
Skunks don’t begin to stink until they are a
year old. Mother was a bit jealous of the affection
for (Margaret) Gret.

Mother and Dad were married at St. Bartholomew’s
church on Park Avenue in New York City. Mother became an
Episcopalian
as a result of attending a young professional people’s
group at St. Bartholomew’s church. Les Douglas (a
stock broker who married the daughter of Henry Wallace)
and several
of Dad’s roommates attended this group. Dad was a
regular member.

Mother and Dad were married on a Saturday.
Mother had spent
the entire day on Friday working at her Associated Press
job. She got her hair done Friday evening and was so
tired she broke
down and cried. The hair dressing took four hours.

Mother was a fashion editor at the Associated
Press from 1935 through 1939. She wrote an advice column.
Mother worked with
Mary Beth Plumber who later married Davison Taylor
(a television network executive). She was invited to view
a television
set at NBC headquarters. They told Mother of
their plans for the
new industry saying that they would provide the
television shows before a studio audience. Mother
wrote a column
about how to behave as a member of a TV studio
audience. (This
was one of the first newspaper columns about
television ever written.)
Her boss thought that the article was rather
far out but the New York Times later reprinted
it - not giving
Mother
credit,
of course.

“The wife of baseball’s iron
man is no iron woman” began
her column on Lou Gehrig after his illness was revealed
to the public. Lou Gehrig’s wife visited the AP office.
Mother was substituting for Mary Beth Plumber, who
was on vacation. Mrs. Gehrig invited mother to their home and showed her the
special bed made for Lou. (He wasn’t there at
the time.) Mother wrote a story about this which Pap
read
in the newspaper
under the byline “John Durham”. Pap
got a kick out of this.

Mother also edited a food column
which was written
by an experienced cook.

Mother had a hard job getting
a job after she graduated from Columbia Journalism School.
She first worked in
the book
department at Macy’s - a physically demanding
job. While Mother was working at Macy’s she
was broke. Borrowed some money from Get, who was
a student
a Barnard College. They roomed
together.

Then Mother
heard of a floater’s job
at Stern’s
on 42nd Street. These are people who fill in
for others. She earned $15 a week. Used K.C.
Hogate
as a reference - worked
there for awhile.

Mother called K.C. Hogate (of
the Wall Street Journal) to say she expected
to be laid off (from the job
at Sterns). Hogate
said: “How would you like to work at
the Scarsdale Enquirer?” Hogate’s
wife was on the board. Mother’s immediate
boss was a bitch who was constantly criticizing
her work. She might have
resented Mother’s connection with the
Hogates. Mother was fired from this job as
a reporter because
she told another
reporter that she had overheard that this
woman was about to get fired. (Her husband
was an alcoholic
and she had missed
some days of work.)

Mother
used to run photographs to a place to get half
tones made. She used
to run into a man named
Robertson
who worked
on the floor below. One day, she told Robertson
that she was losing her job. After a week
later Robertson
called
to suggest
that she interview for a reporters job opening
up at the Tarrytown newspaper. She interviewed
with
Sam
Lesch (later
an editor
at the Wall Street Journal). Mother got along
well with Sam Lesch. A catholic advertising manager
didn’t like Lesch because he was Jewish.

Mother got the Associated
Press job because a letter announcing the
new features section was
addressed
to graduates of
the Columbia Journalism School. The letter
was addressed to Jane
Durham (Aunt Jane, Mother’s sister)
but sent to Mother’s
address. So Mother went to the interview
and got the job. She dressed up in her
finest coat
with a fur collar, which might
have impressed the interviewer.

Later
note by William McGaughey, jr.: Sam Lesch
was the copy desk editor at
the Wall Street Journal, located at 44 Broad
Street
in
New York,
when I worked there as a copy boy in
the summer of 1960. I recall
that Mother helped her old boss, Lesch,
get his first job at the Wall Street Journal.
The Depauw
clique,
headed by
Bernard
Kilgore, then ran the newspaper - but
I’m
not sure if that was the connection
that got Lesch his job. The Kilgore
family had a summer place at Twin Lakes,
Pennsylvania (near Milford). The Durham family had a
larger compound at Twin Lakes,
on the small lake.

I remember as a boy kicking
a beach ball with Bernard Kilgore but I
once saw him once
- and
briefly -
when I worked that
summer at the Wall Street Journal. After
Bernard Kilgore died around 1967, his widow,
Mary Lou
Kilgore, married
another property
owner at Twin Lakes (Bob Beeman?). Their
daughter, Katherine, married Alexander
Cockburn, a left-leaning
journalist
who now edits Counterpunch.

dollar certificate issued
in 1858 by Indiana state bank, possibly owned by the Durham
family

“Munny” as
a commercial model:

Munny (Mother's mother) was the young
daughter of Frank P. Sawyer, then general manager of
the Muscatine Oat Meal Company (a forerunner to Quaker
Oats), a company in Muscatine, Iowa. Its Friends Oats
cereal box included a
tiny porcelain pitcher which could
be used for pouring milk or cream. Munny, then about
six, was the model for the picture of a young girl dressed
in Quaker garb which appeared on the porcelain pitcher.
We still have one or two of them.

“Munny” in
the movies:

Mother said that her mother, “Munny” (Aura
S. Durham) was in a film directed by W.D. Griffith filmed
in the Milford area. Munny was an “extra”,
hired by the studio to play a squaw. When mother was
an infant in the crib, Munny came home with her “Indian” face
paint and learned over the crib to kiss her good night.
Mother screamed in terror. The film starred Mary Pickford.
It might have been shot in 1912 or 1913.

The guide at the Delaware & Hudson
Canal museum in Cuddebackville, New York, (about fifteen
miles from Milford) where many D.W. Griffith films were
shot, said that Griffith worked in Cuddebackville from
1909 to 1911. Fort Lee, New Jersey, was another place
where he worked. One film, about the U.S. Civil War.
was shot in Milford around 1912. The word “Massacre” might
have been in the title. Griffith pioneered the use of
two cameras and other techniques. He was able to get
the stars. Griffith’s studio was in Manhattan.
They shot about 15 films in Cuddebackville, mostly 15-minute
firms shown in big-city theaters. Many were westerns.
The studio generally paid the extras something for their
work - maybe $5 - but there wouldn’t be records
of this.

Pap
loved dogs. He also was a jokester. One day he and his Father made
a trip from Russellville to Greencastle in the buggy. Along the
way they seemed to be a pied piper because they had gathered a bunch
of dogs running along side. Paps Father was puzzled, and when
they reached Greencastle, Grandpa walked around the buggy to discover
Why?. Pap had tied a female in season to trot behind
them.

I
understood Pap was of high spirits and somewhat of a trial to his
parents being born in their 40s. They were straight-laced ... Grandma
Durham died in 1924.

Now
Grandpa and Grandma Sawyer were fun people. Gret (Margaret Durham)
had lots of stories. One was that someone cautioned Grandpa that
Grandma was spending too much money. Grandpa said that he always
could make more (money) than Grandma could spend.

from
Aunt Anns (Ann D. Weinrichter) letter
January 22, 2007

Dear
Bill,

Thank
you for the McGaughey and Durham family trees. It
represents a lot of new information and
effort spent.

However,
Pap did not run for Congress. I remember talking
with him -- he had
thought about it. First of all he didn’t
have the financial backing he needed. Uncle Ernest, I think,
had helped him in previous years, and he either was dying
of leukemia or was dead. Also Court Gillen, an elder friend,
a
Republican, jumped in to run. Also Pap didn’t think
it would be good for family life, because he certainly could
afford
to take a wife and so many children to Washington.

Happy
New Year to you and family.

Aunt
Ann

About Ralph Weinrichter's
family (Ann's husband)

We
came home to see some Studebaker memorabilia. J.M. Studebaker made
the nest egg to expand the wagon business by making wheel barrows
for the miners. When he took it back to South Bend, Ralphs
great-grandfather, Clement, became a long-time president of the
company. Every year at the Fair ground in Placerville they have
the Studebaker race (with wheel barrows!).

About
Calvin
McQueston

He
was born in Bedford town, New Hampshire, 1801. Great-grandfather
came from Londonderry 1730. Calvin graduated from Bowdoin college,
Maine, in medicine 1829. Went west to Hamilton, Ontario, in 1835,
to join his cousin, John Fisher (who later became Hamiltons
third mayor and later still was U.S. senator from the state of New
York) in the manufacture of a threshing machine invented by Fisher.
Their factory also cast the first cooking ranges made in Hamilton,
and iron work for cars of the first train. (Sawyer-Massey Company
evolved from this.)

About Sarah
Black, Pap's mother

Sarah A. Black (b. 1839)

Census evidence suggests that her father
was Andrew Black, a farmer who settled in Putnam County, Indiana,
near Greencastle.
Her mother's name was Margaret. The 1860 Census lists a daughter,
Sarah, born in Kentucky, who was then 19. Sarah A. Black was
married to James V. Durham on December 11, 1860. (The Census
was conducted in June.) The 1850 Census lists Sarah, aged 8,
in Andrew Black’s household. This time, however, the Census
was done in District 2, Montgomery County, Kentucky, which is
about 20 miles east of Lexington. From the reported ages of Andrew
Black’s sons in 1860, it appears that the Black family
moved to Indiana from Kentucky around 1852.

The 1860 census, taken
in Putnam County, lists two other farmers named Black consecutively
next to Andrew Black on the census
sheet: Miller Black and Alexander Black. In 1850, Miller Black’s
family was counted in the census taken in district 1, Montgomery
County, Kentucky. This would suggest that Miller and Andrew
Black (and possibly Alexander) were related. They may have
been three
brothers who moved from Kentucky to Indiana around the same
time. Durham family records reveal that Miller Black’s
daughter, Margaret M. Black, married George Spears Durham,
who was the
brother of James V. Durham, on February 5, 1861, which was
less than two months after his brother married Sarah. Margaret
M.
Black was then 18. Curiously, Miller Black has a daughter named
Sally (named Sarah A. Black in the 1850 census); but at the
age of 13 in 1860 she may be too young for marriage. Her 19-year-old
cousin would be a better candidate for this role.

Further information,
supplied by Brenda Black Watson of Memphis,
TN, indicates that Sarah Black's father, Andrew Black, was
born on July 1, 1807, in Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County,
Kentucky. Her mother, Margaret Lockridge, was born on August
2, 1811,
in
Mt. Sterling, Mongomery County, Kentucky. Sarah A. Black
was also born in Mt. Sterling. A family Bible inherited by
Laura
Moore Black, may be the source of this information.

A letter from Frank
P. Sawyer to the publisher of "Famous Men of Iowa" directory

April
9, 1897

Conaway
& Shaw
Des Moines, IA

Gentlemen:

Upon
the request of your representative, I will give you the following
facts from which you may arrange the publication request, in such
manner as will best serve the object intended, but will prefix it
with the statement that as I am not in politics and have no inclination
in that direction, being exclusively devoted to business and the
reasonable home enjoyments which success affords, do not care for
any enlargement which might give the appearance of parading the
success attained, which might be very satisfactory to some parties,
but in addition to the above feeling, also realize that changes
at times occur which might make an article well written at the time,
appear ridiculous or overdrawn at some future date. I will therefore
only endeavor to cover the items mentioned, depending upon its rearrangement
by you in accordance with the above.

My
full name is Frank Payson Sawyer, using only the initials in my
signature as F. P. Sawyer. My residence being the N.W. corner of
Spruce & 2nd Sts., Muscatine, Iowa.

My
father, Stephen P. Sawyer, was born in Amesbury, Mass., Jan. 13,
1832, and moved to Hamilton, Ont., about 1848. One June 21, 1853,
he married at Nashua, N.H. to my mother, Francis Phoebe Gillett,
who was born Sep. 1, 1832, at Newport, N.H. My father was of course
quite a young man when he moved to Canada, after which he learned
his trade, and was the principal party in founding the large agricultural
manufacturing business now conducted under the title of The
Sawyer-Massy Mfg. Co., at Hamilton, Ont. In 1871 he retired
from that business, moving to our present residence to retire from
active business, except such as would avoid idleness; and for the
past 20 years has spent most of his time in an effort to use his
income for the benefit of the family, and chiefly in endeavoring
to prolong the life and afford comforts to my mother who was a confirmed
invalid for nearly 20 years, and who died March 18, 1897.

I
was born in Hamilton, Ont., Nov. 30, 1856, and have resided in Muscatine,
Iowa, most of the time since 1872. My early education was in the
Canadian schools, well known for their thorough training and substantial
foundation for a thorough education. I graduated from the Muscatine
High School, and entered the Iowa State University at Iowa City,
in 1874, but illness occurring in 1875, while in the Sophomore year,
compelled me to retire, requiring the greater part of a year in
a change of climate to enable my return. During this time I visited
various Eastern cities, including our former home in Canada, and
from observations among former associates drew the conclusion that
professional lines, or the ordinary mercantile pursuits, were a
poor foundation to meet reverses or conditions incident to financial
depression which then existed. As soon after my return as possible,
I therefore concluded to learn a trade as a foundation upon which
to rely in case of necessity, abandoning the educational department
and learning the marble cutters trade, after which I at once
entered into that business in Des Moines, Iowa, but the exactions
and exposures connected with it again made me feel it necessary
to change, as the returns scarcely justified the risk which was
very evident regarding my health, then somewhat impaired.

After
a short time I was requested to become personally identified with
the Muscatine Oat Meal Co., having been interested with the stockholders
of this Co., since its organization, and in 1883 was placed in management
of this business which has grown to the position occupied at the
present time, of second largest Oat Meal industry in operation.
The importance of our enterprise to this community is well known,
and it does not require any enlargement on my part, but might state
that our business extends into almost every country from South Africa
to the European markets, and in all large cities of the United States
and Canada. We furnish employment in this enterprise to over 160
employes in Muscatine, in addition to a large number of others indirectly
obtaining their income from our branch of business. I obtain more
pleasure from the amount of work thus furnished, and the successful
operation of the business than any gratification realized from its
success. While successful financially in this business and some
other investments, which is a satisfaction, it is to me only the
pleasure of the use made of such accumulations, and not for its
possession, which affords the satisfaction.

I
endeavor to keep posed on the various influences which political
changes bear on business matters, but am not interested in politics
beyond the business side of the question. My interests in other
investments recommend keeping posted on the legislation affecting
the careful handling of means intended for the benefit of commerce
and those less fortunate, not only in the business above mentioned
(of which I am secretary and General Manager), but in such portion
of the management as rests with me as a director of the Muscatine
Savings Bank, and Treasurer of the Muscatine Water Co, of which
I am also one of the Board of Directors.

Politically
I might be called a liberal Republican, as I always reserve the
privilege of voting for the nominee showing the best business qualifications
and recommendations for integrity, instead of blindly voting for
the political nominee whose only recommendation is the fact that
the party is either under obligation to him, or that for some other
reason than merit and qualification he is placed on the ticket.

I
am not at present an active member in any of the secret societies,
though of course am a member of the Muscatine Commercial Club.

Religiously,
I am a member of the Presbyterian church, and have been Secretary
of the official board for over ten years, being elected as a Deacon
about 1885.

On
Nov. 30, 1882, I was married at Milford, Pa., to Joanna Wells, daughter
of H.B. Wells, probably the most prominent and successful business
man of Pike County, Pa.

We
have three children - the oldest, Henry P., born Nov. 19, 1883;
Aura M., born Feb. 17, 1885; Maud W., born May 4, 1892.

Yours
truly,

(Signed)
F. P. Sawyer"

Mrs. Frank P. Sawyer with her
daughter, Aura May, and friends at home in Muscatine, IA, in 1890s

"HENRY
B. WELLS, the genial and popular proprietor of the Bluff House
at Milford, is a lineal descendant of one of the earliest settlers
in Pike county, and was born at Milford, April 1, 1827, a son of
Nathan and Ann (Rockwell) wells, and a grandson of Israel Wells.

Before the
town of Milford was laid out the present site was known as Wells
Ferry, taking its name from the three wells brothers - Jesse, James
and Israel - who came to this region from Connecticut before the
Revolutionary war, and undoubtedly operated a ferry. Jesse Wells
built a gristmill on the Sawmill, the people from across the river
fording the creek below the mill, hence the present name of the
town - Milford or Milford. James Wells lived at Panther Brook. Israel
wells, the grandfather of our subject, lived on the hill south of
the Sawmill, and his family were the following children: Benjamin,
Abram, Jesse, Lydia, Nathan, David, Peter, Hart, and Sally. The
father was drowned in the Delaware river in 1803.

Nathan Wells
was born at Milford, in 1796, and learned the trade of a cabinet
maker. His mechanical ability was out of the ordinary, and he invented
the Wells fanning mill. He married Ann Rockwell, who was born in
Orange, County, N.Y., a daughter of Jabez Rockwell, a patriotic
soldier in the revolutionary army. Mr. Rockwell was a shoemaker
by trade. He came to Milford about 1797, and for many years was
prominently identified with local politics, serving one term as
sheriff of Wayne county. Of his children, Lewis was sheriff of Pike
county one term; Poll married James Watson, one of Pike Countys
most popular sheriffs; Ann married Nathan Wells; and John B. was
a merchant at Milford.

The following
children came to bless the union of Nathan and Ann (Rockwell) Wells:
Peter, who married Charlotte Burred, and died in 1894; Melinda (deceased)
who married Cellar Sears; John, who died at the age of forty, unmarried;
Henry B., mentioned below; Edgar, who married Lemma Greenly, and
resides at Port Gervais, N.Y., where he is connected with the Erie
Railroad Co.; Mary, who resides at Milford; William, who married
Octave Barlow, and is deceased; and Salaried, who died young. The
father of this family was a prominent adherent of the principles
of the Democratic party, and his death in 1854, when he was aged
fifty-eight years, was regarded as a public loss. Ann (Rockwell)
Wells was a faithful and consistent member of the Presbyterian Church;
this noble pioneer mother was laid to rest in 1884, after a life
of ninety-two years spent in thoughtful, loving deeds for others.

Henry B.
Wells spent his early years at home, but as his father was not overburdened
with worldly goods he began, when quite young, to work among the
neighboring farmers, and also to assist his father in the shop at
painting, carpentering, or anything else that he could get to do.
When but twenty years old he was considered a good carpenter and
cabinet maker, and began to do business on his own account in h
is fathers shop, devoting most of his time, however, to the
manufacture of fanning mills, which he has continued to manufacture
in his leisure moments ever since, having constructed altogether
about 3,500. During the Civil war, when land was cheap, he would
buy lots and erect houses thereon, for rent or sale as occasion
offered. As soon as the money from the sale of one lot was received
he immediately reinvested it, and has continued to do so ever since.
He has built about fifty houses at Milford and Port Gervais, N.Y.,
in both of which places he owns considerable property at present.

In his political
affiliations Mr. Wells has ever been a Democrat, and he has taken
an active and prominent part in the work of the party, though always
avoiding, where possible, all public offices. His friends, however,
have so urged him at times that he has given a reluctant consent,
and for three terms he served in the town council, for three terms
as school director, and for two terms as chief burgess. As might
be expected from so energetic and thorough a business man, the duties
pertaining to these offices were performed with his characteristic
conscientiousness, and the citizens of the town, regardless of party,
would gladly have retained him as an official.

In 1873,
Mr. Wells erected the Bluff House, which now has 214
rooms, is well-equipped with water, acetylene gas, and all modern
improvements, overlooking the picturesque banks of the Delaware
river, seven hundred feet above the level of the sea. (Note: The
Bluff House burned down in 1946.) When this lot was first purchased,
it was an unbroken wilderness, and the first building contained
only ninety rooms; but as trade increased the original structure
was from time to time enlarged, first by the addition of twenty-one
rooms, then by thirteen, and in 1896 by another building of ninety
rooms, the entire building costing something over fifty thousand
dollars. This hotel is open in the summer only, and is conducted
on strictly temperance lines. The careful attention bestowed on
the guests has won for the establishment an enviable reputation,
and each guest is made to feel that the proprietor has a personal
interest in his comfort and welfare.

On June
6, 1853, Henry B. Wells was married to Miss Phoebe Dewitt, a native
of Sussex county, N.J., and daughter of Silas and Johann (Hitler)
Dewitt of that county, who for eight years resided in Milford, thence
returning to their old home; they are farming people. To Mr. and
Mrs. Wells have been born the following children: Mary, wife of
Rev. C.S. Ryman, a Methodist clergyman at Summit, N.J.; Nathan,
who was drowned at the age of eight in the old mill pond at Milford;
Joann, wife of F.P. Sawyer, a manufacturer of oat meal at Muscatine,
Iowa; Harry, deceased at the age of five years; Jennie, wife of
William Shearer, at attorney at Chicago, Ill.; and Kittie, wife
of Paul Boernique, who now manages the Bluff House.
The mother of this family was called to her final rest in 1894,
at the age of sixty.

Mr. Wells
has been a member of the Methodist church for half a century, and
is still serving as trustee and steward. He is one of that class
of American citizens to whom we can point with pride - a self-made
man, who by honest industry has won wealth, and with it an untarnished
reputation. Prominent in the affairs of his town, he advocates all
movements that tend to the moral and material advancements of the
town, county or country, and is a liberal contributor to all charities,
public and private. Though he has turned the active management of
the hotel to his son-in-law, he still remains a silent force that
helps to steer over the rough places, and Mr. Boernique has, as
have all others who have known Mr. Wells, found his counsel safe,
his judgment strong - a tower of strength and wisdom yet, at seventy-three."

The house at Milford, PA, and
dam on the Sawkill Creek around 1900

The Story of Jabez Rockwell,
from a D.A.R. Dedication Ceremony to honor the revolutionary patriots
Henry Holdren and Jabez Rockwell in the Old Methodist Burial Ground
at Honesdale, Pennsylvania, on June 19, 1976. This ceremony was
attended by Jabez Rockwells descendants Jane D. Anderson and
Joan D. McGaughey.

"Jabez Rockwell was a revolutionary
soldier, born Oct. 3, 1761, near Richfield, Conn. He tried to enlist
at age fifteen, but was told he was too young but he could join
the troops as water boy and help with the horses, which he did.

On Feb. 16, 1777, at sixteen years
of age, he enlisted in the Seventh Regiment in Connecticut, recruited
under the supervision of Benedict Arnold. He fought at the Battle
of Saratoga and was wounded. He was transferred to the command of
General Putnam and later under the command of General Washington
during that terrible winter at Valley Forge, and was in the same
boat with General Washington on Christmas Eve when crossing the
Delaware river, helping to push the ice away from the boat.

He became a personal friend of General
Washington.

He was present at the surrender
of Cornwallis at Yorktown in October, 1781, and he walked from Milford,
Pennsylvania, to New York to see General Lafayette, by whom he was
warmly greeted.

When he was in the army on a march,
the troops stopped for water at a house. He was near the rear and
very thirsty. When it was his turn to have a drink, he was told
there was no more water. He was disappointed and called to a young
lady, telling her, jokingly, that if she would give him a drink
of water, he would like to come back and marry her some day. She
took the pail, ran to the well, filled it and overtook the column,
which had stopped. She found Jabez and gave him a drink. He thanked
her and asked her name.

She replied Sarah Rundel.
She noticed he wiped the sweat from his face on the sleeve of his
coat so she took off her apron and said she would give it to him
if he would tell her his name, which he did.

When he returned to Connecticut
in 1782, he wrote to her. She answered his letter and said she would
like a new apron for the one she had given him, but that he should
bring it in person. He visited her and brought an apron. Fourteen
months later, in 1783, they were married. She later died and he
remarried.

He was a shoemaker by trade and
came to Milford in 1797. He served one term as Sheriff of Wayne
County and he was Cryer of the Court when the first
court was held in Wayne County.

He was a Mason and when he died
at Leonardsville, East Honesdale, Pennsylvania, on January 11, 1847,
age 86, his funeral was in charge of the Masonic Lodge of Honesdale,
and the guards, a military company of the town. They escorted his
remains from Leonardsville, East Honesdale, to the Methodist Cemetery,
walking the entire distance, complying with the request made previously
by Jabez. An air called The Masonic Adieu was played
on the drum during the procession."

More on Jabex
Rockwell and his descendants by my aunt, Jane Durham Anderson:

Who
Blew What Horn?
By Mrs. Robert P. Anderson
Pike County Dispatch
March 4, 1976

Truth is stranger than fiction! Undoubtedly Mrs. Rollins Weaver
of Hellertown, PA weaves a good yarn with just enough of an element
of truth in it to seemingly authenticate her tales of Jabez Rockwell
and his powder horn but for the record in this Bicentennial Year
 much of her story just isnt fact. I hate to disillusion
her but

Jabez Rockwell was my great, great, great grandfather. He
was the eldest son of Josiah Rockwell (third of that name) and was
the sixth generation of Rockwells in America  the first having
been Deacon William Rockwell and his wife, Susannah Chapin, who
sailed from Plymouth, England, on the ship, Mary and John, on March
30, 1630 and landed in Massachusetts to settle first, but briefly,
in Dorchester from whence they went to Connecticut, settling in
Windsor where Deacon William died and Susannah married the widower,
Matthew Grant. The Grants had sailed from England on the same ship
with the Rockwells.

Jabez Rockwell was born October 3, 1761 at Ridgefield, Conn.
He was the son of Josiah and Mary Scott Rockwell. At the turn
of this century when his grandson, Charles Rockwell, wanted to ascertain
for sure which regiment he served with, he paid a fee for a search
by the Adjutant General of Connecticut  Hartford. This
is the record:

Seventh regiment (Connecticut line), formation of 1771-1781.
Regiment raised from January 1777, for new Continental line to continue
through the war. Recruited in Fairfield and other counties.
Went into the field spring of 1777 at Camp Peekskill, New York,
and in September was ordered under General McDougall to General
Washingtons army in Pennsylvania. Fought Germantown,
October 4, 1777, and suffered some loss. Wintered at Valley
Forge 1777 and 1778, and on June 8th following, was presented at
the battle of Monmouth. In camp during the summer at White
Plains, and assigned to Huntingdons Brigade. Wintered
in 1778 and 1779 at Redding. In summer of 1779 served on the
east side of the Hudson, in General Heaths wing. Its
light company under Captain Chamberlain detached to Meigs
Light Regiment and engaged in storming of Stony Point, July 15,
1779. Wintered at Morristown Heights 1779-1780, and in following
summer served with the main army on Hudson. Wintered in 1780-1781
at Camp Connecticut Village, near the Robinsons House Upper
Hudson, and there consolidated for formation of 1781-1783.

This as it was recorded on the muster roll of the regiment:
Private Jabez Rockwell enlisted for a term of three years,
in Captain Elderkins company. Term of service began
February 16th, 1777; discharged February 16th, 1780.

I own the Biographical Sketch and Genealogy of the Rockwell Family
which was published in 1901 by Carrie Wells Milligan, daughter of
Peter Wells of Milford who when she married moved to Philadelphia
and she was the great granddaughter of Jabez and at the time the
genealogy was published there were three daughters of Jabezs
living in Matamoras  Mrs. Lucinda Valentine then 85 years
old, Mrs. Phoebe Gainford, 96 years old, and Mrs. Catharine Bowden,
89 years old. (Carrie Wells Milligan was a first cousin of
my grandmother, Joanna Wells Sawyer).

Family history can be quite a bore to a non family member, as well
as sometimes a family member, but I will dispense with lineage as
fast as I can and say that Israel Wells was one of the founders
of Milford and operated the Wells Ferry across the Delaware with
his two brothers, James and Jessie  all having come from Connecticut.
Nathan Israels son married Ann Rockwell, daughter of Jabez
Rockwell. Briefly, Nathan Wells was a cabinetmaker by trade
and the inventor of the Wells Fanning Mill. His son, Henry
Barnes Wells, carried on his fathers business, invested in
real estate and built the Bluff House. I have
an old letter he wrote to his daughter, my grandmother, in 1897
telling her he had commenced to build another Bluff House.
Prior to this Henry Barnes Wells had turned his fathers Fanning
Mill into an excelsior factory.

As Carrie told it, He always had a penchant for wood and once
told me that his first attempt at dealing in the article was whittling
out skate bottoms and selling them at three cents a pair.

Having covered a bit much of family lineage I will get
back to Jabez Rockwell. Our entire family from Wells, Sawyer,
Durham (of which I am one) knew the Edgingtons well and I
think in some way Im not too sure about, we were related 
perhaps not. I am completely baffled by that story of Mrs.
Weavers concerning Jabez deserting because the family history
written by Carrie and certainly cleared with the three
living daughters of Jabez in Matamoras, states from the Adjutant
Generals record that following his enlistment under Captain
Vine Elderkins, his regiment went into the field at Camp Peekskill,
New York, and Im not clear on how Jabez ended up escorting
that Hessian Baroness Rudysell to Cambridge, via Vermont, without
that having been recounted by Jabez to his daughters but I do know
that at Peekskill, under his Captain Elderkins, the regiment was
under command of General Benedict Arnold and to quote, As
an indication of the character of Jabez Rockwell it may be stated
that in after life when in his presence the treachery of Arnold
was spoken of, while in no way excusing his after action, he would
remind the speaker to remember Arnolds gallantry at Saratoga.

Jabez often recalled to family and friends his terrible winter at
Valley Forge and his often repeated story concerning one morning
following breakfast in his little hut roasting potatoes and hickory
nuts, he took his station as sentinel at headquarters, and George
Washington inquired and brought out some meat and bread.

But I cannot believe that Martha Washington herself was at Valley
Forge and Mrs. Weavers story of the powder horn isnt
accurate either. To quote, In those days the soldiers
carried powder-horns, an ordinary cow horn, with ends stopped with
wooden plugs, securely fastened to a strap which was thrown over
the right shoulder. While the army was encamped at Valley
Forge that winter, about thirty soldiers, among whom was young Jabez
Rockwell, had lost their powder horns, and there seemed to be no
way to replace them.

Hearing of their dilemma, the camp butchers proposed to give these
soldiers tens horns which they had saved from cattle that had been
slaughtered for food, but the applicants so largely outnumbered
the horns that they were in a quandary as to their division, and
finally agreed to leave the distribution up to the Commander-in-Chief.
One day General Washington was riding through camp, when they appealed
to him to make the division. He readily consented to do so,
and hit upon this novel plan: Taking from his pocket pencil and
paper, whose guess was the closest, picking a number between 1500
and 2000, should receive the horns. He wrote 1776
the year of the Declaration of Independence. This number was
correctly guessed by one soldier. Four others of the successful
guessers, of whom Jabez Rockwell was one, guessed halfway between
these points, 1750. Young Rockwell lost no time scraping,
polishing and preparing his horn to hold its allotment of powder,
and inscribing his name upon the same.

A military order required every powder horn to be marked with the
owners name so that it could be readily returned to him after
being filled at the powder wagon. The horn is in the Valley
Forge Museum inscribed Jabez Rockwell, of Ridgebury, Conn.
His horn made in camp at Valley Forge. First used at Monmouth,
June 28th, 1778. The horn was often loaned by his grandson
to some history buffs and one such buff thought it would make the
powder horn more historical and interesting if he added to the inscription
Last used at Yorktown 1781  impossible since Jabez
was out of the army by then. But the museum at Valley Forge
wanted to buy the horn from Jabezs grandson, Charles F. Rockwell,
who wouldnt sell it to the museum but gave it to the museum
on the condition that it would not be considered the property of
any person and he added to the inscription May it be sacredly
kept is the wish of his grandson, Charles F. Rockwell.

When Jabez returned to his home state of Connecticut to Ridgebury,
a section of Ridgefield, he again met Sarah Rundel, who when they
were strangers, had given him a drink of water while on his way
to join the army, and the renewal of the acquaintance led to their
marriage on July 4, 1784, at his native home in Connecticut.
In 1796, accompanied by his family, he moved to Pennsylvania, locating
on land that is now part of Milford, the county seat of Pike County.

Mrs. Weavers letter in the Pike County Dispatch, February
26th, was in error on his wifes name. She spoke of the
name being Melissa Wells whose father was Henry Wells and Henry
Wells was yet another generation unborn. Sarah Rundel was
Jabezs first wife and she was born November 20, 1759 in Danbury,
Conn. She died in Milford, PA May 24, 1798  just three
months after her seventh child, Ann, my great, great grandmother
was born. In September of 1799 Jabez remarried  an Elizabeth
Mulford of Milford, and they had seven children and their first
son, John B. Rockwell, was born in Milford, July 31, 1800 and later
married Oliver Buchanan. In 1837, Jabez Rockwell left Milford
for a small hamlet then called Leonardsville, a mile east of Honesdale,
PA and now part of Honesdale, I believe. He is buried there
in Honesdale in the old Methodist cemetery I know well because I
made a pilgrimage to find the grave when I lived in Massachusetts
and was trying to get my children interested in their heritage.
Jabez Rockwell died January 18, 1847.

For reference to Jabez Rockwell, Mr. Norman Lehde of Milford covered
him quite well in an article he wrote for the Union Gazette, Port
Jervis, N.Y., Saturday, June 7, 1975, and history buffs interested
in his walk to New York City from Milford when Lafayette was last
in this country should read his article. Jabez had served
under Lafayette and made that pilgrimage to New York City to see
his former comrade-in-arms at age sixty-three.

Where Jabez Rockwell actually lived the rather brief time he was
in Milford, I am not sure. I do know that the old Wells homestead
burned down but my mother, Aura May Sawyer Durham, who just had
her ninety second birthday in Winter Haven, Florida, told me the
homestead location was on Harford Street, where, at one point, a
Mrs. Kloppman lived.

Henry Barnes Wells, son of Nathan and Ann Rockwell Wells, built
the house on the curve of Blackberry Alley and Sawkill, the Smith
house now. My sister, Mrs. McGaughey, covered the history
of their house on Sawkill  next to mine.

The small house I am in now was built for Jennie Wells Shearer who
later moved into a house on Harford Street, the Doc
Johns house. Jennie liked to be called Aunt Jean
but her father always called her Jen and her name was Jennie.
She is buried in the Wells old family plot beside her infant daughter,
Marie. Only the four Wells girls lived to become adults.
Their oldest brother, Nathan, was drowned at age eight and his younger
brother Harry, died when he was three years old. Following
Harry came Mary Frances who married Charles Ryman, then came Joanna,
my grandmother (Mrs. Frank Payson Sawyer), then came Jennie (Mrs.
Will Shearer) and Katharine, the youngest of the sisters
who became Mrs. Paul Bournique.

This quite old house was once a woodshed and an ice storage shed
and my mother thought it was originally Dewitt property  way
back there. My great grandfather, Henry Barnes Wells married
Phoebe Dewitt who was born in Sussex County, New Jersey, and taught
school in a tiny one room schoolhouse up on Route 6, just prior
to the road into Twin Lakes. The old foundations of that one
room schoolhouse are still visible and every time we would come
down from Massachusetts to Twin Lakes my children would shout, Heres
where Moms great, great somebody or other taught school.
Generally, once during the summer, Id cart one or the other
of my five children off to Honesdale to pay their respects to Jabez
Rockwell  the old cemetery was full of poison ivy and most
of the headstones were down but we discovered that someone from
the Historical Society had been trying to spruce up the plot now
and then. From Carries book: he had
requested that if the Honesdale Guards should attend his funeral,
the drummer and fifer should play one of his favorite airs, The
Masonic Adieu and this request was complied with, the musicians
continuously rendering the air from his house to the grave.
With a parting volley the old patriot was left at his last resting
place awaiting the resurrection call, and as each Memorial Day is
reached the members of the Grand Army of the Republic never fail
to lavishly decorate his grave, revering it as the resting place
of the only soldier of the Revolutionary Army buried in Honesdale.